Piper and Warren on Doctrine

I found this quite fascinating. I always understood these two giants of the faith to be much further apart doctrinally than they actually are. I was amazed at their similarity. And I was amazed at their mutual humility as men of God who are looked upon by so many as sources of vision, leadership and wisdom. It's a long interview but I just popped in the headphones and listened while I hammered out some administrative stuff at work. You can find this video, as originally posted, on desiringgod.org.

A Prayer for Japan

This is a shameless repost. I was brought to tears by this prayer of John Piper for the people in Japan. Rather than try to come up with something on my own, I'm just going offer this as a prayer that we should all pray and as a reminder that our own lives hang on the perilous edge of a dime's rim. In a moment it can all change. Let's be thankful for every day, every moment we have with those we love.

Here are the words of John Piper (see Desiring God blog for his original post)

Father in heaven, you are the absolute Sovereign over the shaking of the earth, the rising of the sea, and the raging of the waves. We tremble at your power and bow before your unsearchable judgments and inscrutable ways. We cover our faces and kiss your omnipotent hand. We fall helpless to the floor in prayer and feel how fragile the very ground is beneath our knees.


O God, we humble ourselves under your holy majesty and repent. In a moment—in the twinkling of an eye—we too could be swept away. We are not more deserving of firm ground than our fellowmen in Japan. We too are flesh. We have bodies and homes and cars and family and precious places. We know that if we were treated according to our sins, who could stand? All of it would be gone in a moment. So in this dark hour we turn against our sins, not against you.


And we cry for mercy for Japan. Mercy, Father. Not for what they or we deserve. But mercy.


Have you not encouraged us in this? Have we not heard a hundred times in your Word the riches of your kindness, forbearance, and patience? Do you not a thousand times withhold your judgments, leading your rebellious world toward repentance? Yes, Lord. For your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts.


Grant, O God, that the wicked will forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Grant us, your sinful creatures, to return to you, that you may have compassion. For surely you will abundantly pardon. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, your beloved Son, will be saved.


May every heart-breaking loss—millions upon millions of losses—be healed by the wounded hands of the risen Christ. You are not unacquainted with your creatures' pain. You did not spare your own Son, but gave him up for us all.


In Jesus you tasted loss. In Jesus you shared the overwhelming flood of our sorrows and suffering. In Jesus you are a sympathetic Priest in the midst of our pain.


Deal tenderly now, Father, with this fragile people. Woo them. Win them. Save them.


And may the floods they so much dread make blessings break upon their head.


O let them not judge you with feeble sense, but trust you for your grace. And so behind this providence, soon find a smiling face.


In Jesus’ merciful name, Amen.

John Piper and Pixels vs. People

This is something I've been noodling on for a while.  We have wholeheartedly embraced social media and technology as culture without really investigating what it's doing to our communication and connectedness with each other.  I often wonder what the hidden "price tag" might be when we put pixels ahead of people. I think Piper is on to something here. Now, more than ever before, we can so easily chose to escape the pain of knowing and being known. Intimacy is is an increasingly rare commodity these days.

Dear Friday

 Dear Friday

Friday, Friday, what it is about you? 

What is it that makes you such a better day

 Than all those other bitter days?

Especially Monday

That decrepit thieving day   

There’s something enchanting about your dastardly week-ending ways

You bring one chapter of my life to an end

And breathe new life into the next

Dear Friday

What is it about your endearing knack for hiding from me

For longer than any other day of the week? 

They all fly by except you, dear Friday

They all have a faster approach than you, dear Friday

4, 11, 18, 25

They're too far apart on my schedule

What is it about your column on my calendar that always awakens a count-down within me?

I await you’re arrival

You come

Then you go

But today you’re here, Dear Friday

Finally

And still it’s only the AM part of you

The cruelest part of you

Because your leisure time treasure trove that I plunder each week

Is yet out of reach for me

But oh, the PM part of you!

The part that exacts your ruthless wrath on my alarm clock while I snore with glee!

The part that gives entry to your kindhearted cohort

Saturday and his friend Sunday

Without you, there’d be no them

That wonderful weekend tandem

Dear Friday

So, I’ll try to enjoy you while you’re here

‘Cause those other days

The weaker week days

They creep up on me

Pushing you aside so carelessly

But they’re just jealous

Because they know that when I’m with them

I’m thinking of you

And counting the days until you’ll be back

Same time next week

Dear Friday

These Hands

These are the hands of your three dudes
Some young, some old, some used, some new
You might see some dirt, you might see some blisters
You might see them torment you and their sisters

But there’s more to these hands than what meets the eye
So stop and look closer while we tell you why

These hands are connected to hearts that adore you
Two generations of hearts beating for you
In a world of lies and selfish pursuits
These hands were designed to uphold the truth
These hands were designed to protect and provide
To work and serve, to lead and to guide
These hands are equipped to defend and attack
So when you get worried, we’ve got your back

These are the hands of father and son
Trying to balance the work and the fun
So close your eyes, my lady, and rest
These hands are God’s gift and this is our quest.

Early Signs of Greatness

My brother sent me an email yesterday. He found two poems I wrote way back when I was 16 or 17 years old. To be a fair judge of my early poetic endeavors, you need to know that these were not written as serious poems. We were trying to be funny. Trying.

You’ll soon see that I use the term “poems” very loosely. These are poems in the same way that a Ford is a “car”. They’re on the low end of the range. But I digress. Here they are for your reading enjoyment:

Pubescent Poem #1

I stand
In the shadow of the apology
For promises
Broken by the time that never passed
Tick Tock
Goes the Thought
Of my time has come
I guess the answer lies within
Within
Within
Within the moon beam
Cast by the sun
I'm hot
I need a drink
I thirst for the past
And hunger for the future
But I have no past
Is there a future?
Or is it just a great chasm
Cast into the stream
Of unconscious blunder
As we pillage the
Time given to no one
I ponder
I rest
Revived I stand
For I must fall
And fall I will
When the rain comes like a plane
With no pilot
Crashing, burning
In a fiery mass of flaming flesh
I hear the screams of the silent breath
Gone
Gone
Only to return
When life
Removes its veil


Pubescent Poem #2

I walk out the window
The wind smiles at me
I feel tired
I must be free
Free from this bond
This bond of hands
At the gates of the world
I glance back
What have I become?
Where must I go?
I sleep
Deeper
Deeper
Deeper
I dream of the
Smiling wind formentioned
Suddenly, I wake
In the haze of
My missing humanity
How small have I become?
I ponder the birth
Of the thoughts
I have heard of
The new day brings
Memories of those to come
Worry free I follow
The path of life
In a constant struggle
To master
The task
Of living the life set before me
The future time on my watch
Has passed

What are you thankful for?

In approximately 54 hours I'll be sitting down with kith and kin to eat way more than I should in a gluttonous celebration of our nation's heritage. This will be my 33^rd Thanksgiving and I have to admit that I rarely stop and think about what this holiday really means. I am too easily distracted by the sound of the Dallas Cowboys losing on TV and the captivating smell of a cooking turkey and a bowl of warm gravy. So this year, I want to reflect on the true idea for the Thanksgiving holiday, as originally intended by our forefathers. I want to stop, reflect and declare my gratitude for the many blessings I have, most of which I simply don't deserve.

I'm thankful for the right to live, work and worship freely, without the threat of harm to me or my family. And, I'm thankful for the generations of Americans who have sacrificed their lives to protect those freedoms. I'm thankful for the daily touch of God in my life and His endless love for me. I'm thankful for the beautiful bride of my youth who stubbornly yet gracefully stays by my side, in spite of me. I'm thankful for the five healthy children we've created together and the household in which we're raising them. I'm thankful for the roof over our head, the food on our table and the clothes on our back. Finally, I'm thankful for the chance to bore you with my ideological ramblings!!

Lastly, to combat what our culture has callously reduced to "Turkey Day", I've pasted a few germane quotes below. These are from various, credible sources and they draw attention to the original intended purpose of Thanksgiving.

"We fearing the Lord should take notice under so many intimations of his returning mercy, we should be found an Insensible people, as not standing before Him with Thanksgiving… " --Thanksgiving Day Proclamation by William Bradford, governor of Plymouth County, June 1676

"Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26^th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country…." --Proclamation of Thanksgiving Day, President George Washington, October 3, 1789

"No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People." --Proclamation of Thanksgiving Day, President Abraham Lincoln, 1863

"For food that stays our hunger, For rest that brings us ease, For homes where memories linger, We give our thanks for these." --Traditional English Prayer

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations." --Psalm 100:4-5